"Men like to see motorcycles; women like the story".
So said my wife after we finished watching this new
video on the life of Barry Sheene.

An overly dramatic generalization to be sure, but we
seem to agree about this every time we watch a
motorcycle video.

There's a good story here; the incredible life of Barry Sheene,
told through many interviews, photos, newsreels and
video that have been gathered and edited by Mark Tinkler.
The two-disk set includes interviews with fans like
Valentino Rossi, Carl Fogarty, Mick Doohan, Damon Hill
and Murray Walker, the doyen of motorcycle and
motorsports journalists.

The first disk is called a documentary, and although
my wife liked the story about Barry Sheene living large
-- really large -- I have to say I found the documentary interesting,
albeit slightly on the stuffy side. Sort of like
what would happen if they gave the directing job to Bill Moyers.
Sorry, Mr. Tinkler...

Nevertheless, the video captures the essence of
Sheene's life and career, from his childhood up to his
unfortunate demise from cancer. Sheene was
enormously popular and he was one of the first of the
"new generation" of made-for-media superstars, although
he didn't know it at the time. Or did he?

His "what me worry?" attitude was
juxtaposed with the incredibly dangerous sport of
motorcycle racing back in the days when knee pads, armor
and back protection were for wimps, and this is what
makes him all the more
interesting. He won the 500cc World Championship
-- the MotoGP of its time -- in 1976 and 1977, breaking
more bones than any score of riders today do in their
entire career. But Sheene also became one of the
first safety advocates in motorcycle racing, prompting
the adoption of better gear (he developed one of the
first back protectors and gave one to Kenny Roberts,
Sr.) and safer tracks.

The second disk includes some Sheene home movies and
some video claimed to be previously unseen. This
will probably become the definitive Barry Sheene video
history, and I must say that whomever funds things like
this should be knighted; as time passes, we lose touch
with our history and archives, so any time that someone
pulls it all together for posterity they should be
rewarded.

I only vaguely remember Barry Sheene; although I
started riding in the very early 1970's, I had no access
to any type of media at the time, either in print, radio
or otherwise, that allowed me to follow any type of
motorcycle racing, much less the far-away World
Championship series.

You may not remember or even be aware of Barry Sheene,
but like most of the motorcycle books and videos we
cover at webBikeWorld.com, increasing your depth of
knowledge about every aspect of the sport only increases
your enjoyment.

So if you'd like to learn more about the Valentino
Rossi of the '70's -- an apt description, by the way,
because Sheene paved the way for characters like Vale --
Legacy: A Personal History of Barry Sheene should be in
your video collection.